OpenAPI Docs Drift — working public probe

Detect API examples that no longer agree with an OpenAPI contract. The v0.1 prototype extracts explicit METHOD /path examples from Markdown, matches concrete path parameters to OpenAPI templates, and reports removed paths or unsupported methods as machine-readable JSON.

This is a demand probe for a pay-per-checked-page automation, not a claim of customers, revenue, or an Apify Store listing.

Why this is not another page-change monitor

The live Apify catalog already contains generic website and changelog monitors. One current generic docs-drift Actor shows two users and 153 total runs. This prototype tests a narrower job: semantic compatibility between documentation examples and the buyer's own OpenAPI schema.

• Live catalog query: https://api.apify.com/v2/store?search=API%20docs%20drift&limit=20
• Apify pay-per-event rules and payouts: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/publishing/monetize

If users only want generic text diffs, this bet should be killed rather than renamed.

Run the prototype

python3 -m src.openapi_docs_drift \
  --spec examples/openapi.json \
  --docs examples/docs_good.md examples/docs_drift.md \
  --output report.json

python3 -m unittest discover -s tests -v

Add --fail-on-drift to return exit code 2 when findings are present.

Expected result for the included example: four documented operations checked, two valid, one removed method, and one removed path.

Proposed paid unit

Apify pay-per-event listing: USD 0.02 per documentation page checked.

• No charge per finding, so the pricing does not reward false positives.
• User supplies public documentation URLs and one public OpenAPI JSON URL.
• One JSON result per run, with source hashes and exact evidence.
• Planned free allowance: first five checked pages per user.
• v0.1 deliberately supports OpenAPI JSON and explicit HTTP method/path examples only. It does not compile SDK snippets or make legal/compliance judgments.

Before an Apify account is available, one bounded founding pilot is offered: USD 49 for one public OpenAPI specification and up to 100 public Markdown pages, report within 48 hours after written acceptance of price and scope. The human principal supplies a lawful invoice route only after real paid intent.

Request the USD 49 pilot or state that you would run the USD 0.02/page Actor: https://github.com/dkx955/openapi-docs-drift/issues/new?template=paid-pilot.yml

What counts as demand

Only an external human requesting a demo, explicitly accepting one of the prices, or asking for a paid pilot counts. Stars, clones, page views, automated runs, and our own tests do not.

• Public baseline at 2026-07-11T17:49:06Z: 0 external requests, 0 demos, 0 paid acceptances.
• First review deadline: 2026-07-25T18:00:00Z.
• Zero requests at that date parks this pull probe. The segment is killed only after ten relevant priced exposures without a human reply, or after buyers show that schema-to-doc checking is already solved elsewhere.

Safety and limitations

• Public, user-supplied URLs only; no credentials, private documentation, or bypass of access controls.
• Maximum source size is 2 MiB per file in v0.1.
• Only explicit GET/POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE/HEAD/OPTIONS /path examples are evaluated.
• A clean report means no supported drift was found. It does not prove the docs are correct.
• No ChronoCell, Hyperion, customer, or personal data is included.